1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sintered body and, more particularly, to a sintered body suitable for a magnetic head slider, and a production method thereof.
2. Related Background Art
A hard disk drive (HDD) is equipped with a magnetic head slider for writing and reading information onto and from a hard disk. Recently, the magnetic head slider is also being downsized with increase in recording density and reduction in size of the hard disk drive.
The magnetic head slider has a configuration in which a magnetic head is mounted on a substrate, and this substrate is generally composed of a ceramic sintered body. The ceramic sintered body for the substrate recently commonly known is a high-strength sintered body consisting primarily of alumina and titanium carbide, so called an AlTiC sintered body (cf. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8-34662).